Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 3:28 pm Post subject: name the book -- woman egg donor against her will

I'm trying to find this book which I thought was by Sandra Brown but googling isn't helping.

As far as I recall, the heroine was married to an infertility specialist who used her as an egg donor without her knowledge or permission. The hero of the book is the father of the baby -- he seeks her out after his wife dies.

I remember it as an utterly infuriating book and have ranted about it several times, so want to make sure I'm not doing Brown a disservice by blaming her for this horrible book. _________________"'Happily ever after, or even just together ever after, is not cheesy,' Wren said. 'It's the noblest, like, the most courageous thing two people can shoot for.'" -- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I went through all the Sandra Browns my library has -- pretty sure it was a library book -- and I can't identify it, so maybe it wasn't her._________________"'Happily ever after, or even just together ever after, is not cheesy,' Wren said. 'It's the noblest, like, the most courageous thing two people can shoot for.'" -- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

If you're sure it's Sandra Brown, it sounds fairly close to "A Secret Splendor" to me -- here is a summary I found:

Divorced and devastated by the loss of her son, Arden Gentry feels utterly alone. But she has another son - a child she gave up at birth for reasons beyond her control. Arden is convinced that finding him will ease her overwhelming heartache. But after she arrives in the tropical paradise of Hawaii, where her son now lives, Arden starts to doubt her decision to contact him. Because she knows that finding him could resurrect all the half-truths, secrets and unspeakable lies that surrounded his birth.

I thought about that one, but the heroine knows she has another biological child in A Secret Splendor. She agreed to act as a surrogate mother in return for a divorce from her husband. And she goes looking for the child after her son with her creepy ex dies. She meets the hero and they marry, then creepy ex shows back up and blackmails her.

So, while the child is biologically hers, she didn't actually donate her eggs as she was the one who gave birth to the baby. And the rest of the details don't fit willaful's OP.

It may very well be an "utterly infuriating book." I read most of SB's category books back in the late 80s and IIRC she wrote a lot of heroines with no backbones. It's been over 20 years since I read this particular book, so I might have the details wrong.

Huh, I don't think I ever saw these responses. I just dug up this thread to say that I'd found it and it's A Secret Splendor. Unless it's an amazing coincidence that I was looking for a Sandra Brown book about a surrogate and this is a different one.

I ordered it from the library so shall be able to tell soon.

Incidentally, the reason I hated it wasn't that the heroine was spineless, but that it had a view of the supremacy of biological bonds that I found exceptionally offensive. The biological mother was the *real* mother and it was just so right that the fake adoptive mother should die so the *real* mother could hook up with the *real* dad and have a *real* family. Barf._________________"'Happily ever after, or even just together ever after, is not cheesy,' Wren said. 'It's the noblest, like, the most courageous thing two people can shoot for.'" -- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Yup, it is A Secret Splendor. I remembered some of the details wrong._________________"'Happily ever after, or even just together ever after, is not cheesy,' Wren said. 'It's the noblest, like, the most courageous thing two people can shoot for.'" -- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell